Buffaloes Fall Short Against South Carolina

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The University of Colorado women's volleyball team found itself on the wrong end of a tight five-set match (34-32, 19-25, 25-12, 13-25, 15-13) against South Carolina Friday evening in Minneapolis, Minn., losing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

A 4-2 run from the Gamecocks (20-9, 10-8 SEC) after a 10-8 score in favor of CU (18-14, 10-10 Pac-12) ended up being the difference in the back-and-forth match. After a pair of blocks to notch the final set at 10 apiece, USC went on a 4-1 run with three kills to move to match-point with the score at 14-12. An Alexa Smith kill put the ball back into the serving hand of Colorado, but a tip from All-SEC middle Mikayla Robinson made its way over the block and off of Danielle Price's extended hands to push South Carolina to the second round after not appearing in the big dance for the past 16 seasons.

"Frustrating way to end the year, felt like it was a match that could go either way," said coach Jesse Mahoney. "Two of those five sets hinged on a play here-or-there and we couldn't get it done and South Carolina did. That's what makes the sports so exciting. A five-set match in the NCAA Tournament is what we do this for. I thought both sides played at a really high level. I thought there was a lot of energy and passion and a lot of ups and downs for both teams. Speaking of our team, I thought we fought from the first serve to the end. I couldn't have asked for more from each one of our players. We wanted to do the right things and we competed at a high level, just didn't quite work out at the end. It was a fun match to be a part of even though we lost, some of the young players on this team will look back and hopefully this will be a springboard for the rest of their careers."

The serve and receive aspects of the match were the keys to the Gamecock victory. South Carolina had three services aces in the first set that featured a lot of offense and little defense. They matched that performance in the third set and finished the match with nine total aces. Libero Aubrey Ezell showed why she is third in the nation in total aces this season, putting down five in the match and disrupting the Colorado offense numerous occasions.

"That third set where we couldn't pass at all," said Mahoney. "They have several players with really nice jump serves, two of them were left-handed so that was a new look for us that we hadn't seen. When we felt like we had a hang of it we lost it again. It certainly affected us in set one when we got aced three times and that was the set there. In set three we couldn't get in system, I felt like when we were in system we were scoring points, we just struggled to stay in system."

The matchup of two of the better hitting teams in the nation was apparent with South Carolina hitting greater than .400 in the first two sets they won and .308 in the final set. Vis-versa, CU hit .340 in the first set, .385 in the second and .444 in the fourth.

"We hit over .300, almost .400 for three of those sets," said Mahoney. "When we didn't do that in the sets where we hit .056 and .103 we simply just weren't in system. I thought Jenna did a really nice job when she had the ball in her hands. We set with tempo, we were scoring really well. On the flip side, when we couldn't get them out of system they have a really nice setter and pieces and we didn't defend very well. Took both teams 32 points to play defense, both teams hit .400 for the first set and then it became more of a match. Our passing woes had more to do with their serving game, they disrupted us there."

Serving was the major factor in the matchup without-a-doubt. When CU could pass effectively setter Jenna Ewert was dishing out perfect sets that resulted in kills 85 percent of the time and 54 assists. The problem in the match was that the ball was unable to make it to Ewert, who finished the match with only 63 set attempts. The passing is most apparent when outside hitter Justine Spann and libero Rachel Whipple combined to dish out the exact same number of set attempts as Ewert. When Smith's 14 attempts and Zoe Neverdowski's nine are added it shows that of the 151 set attempts only 41 percent came from the setter position.

The right side hitters were the driving force for both teams in the match. Redshirt freshman Anyse Smith led the charge for the Buffaloes with 17 kills while hitting .375. She went hit-for-hit with All-SEC right side Mikayla Shields who finished the match with a match-high 19 kills and a .348 hitting percentage. Shields also had 15 digs for a double-double.

The other main matchup was between middles Naghede Abu and Robinson. Neither women conceded an error with Abu leading the battle with a dozen kills and a match-high .522 hitting percentage. Robinson nearly matched the performance with 10 kills and a .500 hitting percentage, though Abu led the match in total blocks with six.

Outside hitters Alexa Smith and Justine Spann combined for 29 kills and had a lot of out-of-system swings that resulted in combined .170 hitting percentage from the pin. Smith finished the match with a double-double with 13 digs.

Defensively, the block for Colorado was hard to come by early with a pair of blocks in sets one and two then a single block in set three. CU finished the match with eight total blocks led by Abu's six and Ewert's four. Ewert also picked up a double-double with 14 digs, while Whipple put up 22 digs to lead the match. Neverdowski came into the match for an injured Gabby Carta-Samuels, producing a career-high 12 digs and matching her career-high with three aces.

"I'm very proud of our team and our program," said Mahoney. "This is a team that started the year returning five starters from a Sweet 16 appearance and ended the year with only two of those starters on the floor. We had a lot of young players step up. We finished with four freshmen on the floor so we are excited for the future. We lose three seniors, all three were instrumental to the success this program has had the last couple years. Alexa Smith, an All-American with more than 1,000 kills in three year and just an overall team leader, Naghede Abu, who is our all-time block leader, and Gabby Carta-Samuels who played a huge role her junior year before she got injury. We are going to miss them."

Colorado finishes the season with an 18-14 record, including a 10-10 record in the Pac-12. This is the first time since 2005 and 2006 that the Buffaloes have finished with an overall winning record, .500 or better conference record and made it to the post season.

Team Stats

Anyse Smith

Alexa Smith

Justine Spann

Naghede Abu

Players Mentioned

Naghede Abu

Gabby Carta-Samuels

Jenna Ewert

Zoe Neverdowski

Danielle Price

Alexa Smith

Anyse Smith

Justine Spann

Rachel Whipple

Players Mentioned

Naghede Abu

Gabby Carta-Samuels

Jenna Ewert

Zoe Neverdowski

Danielle Price

Alexa Smith

Anyse Smith

Justine Spann

Rachel Whipple